Kleinberg Kaplan’s Bankruptcy/Workout group represents clients in their capacities as secured and unsecured creditors, equityholders, lenders, landlords, investors and buyers of distressed companies in connection with chapter 11 reorganizations and out-of-court workouts.  The practice spans both transactional and litigation work.  Transactional work includes the negotiation of agreements such as plans of reorganization, lock-up agreements, investment and purchase agreements and participation in § 363 sale processes.  Litigation work includes representation of clients in adversary proceedings and contested matters in chapter 11, chapter 7 and chapter 15 cases, such as avoidance actions, adequate protection disputes, confirmation objections and claim disputes.  In many engagements, the Bankruptcy/Workout group works seamlessly with the firm’s other practice groups, such as litigation, mergers and acquisitions, bank debt and claims trading, real estate and securities and corporate finance, to provide comprehensive representation to our clients in connection with a transaction or litigation matter.

Our expertise includes representing:

• Secured and unsecured creditors on both an individual and ad-hoc committee basis, including in the chapter 11 cases of Lehman Brothers, Truvo USA, Worldcom, Enron, Delphi, Marvel, Trans World Airlines, Eurotunnel, Southmark, Continental Airlines and Owens Corning

• Purchasers of assets from debtor-sellers under §363 of the bankruptcy code, including, Elliott Associates, L.P. in connection with its bid to acquire the assets of SemMaterials, L.P. and in connection with its bid to acquire assets and membership interests in entities related to White Cliffs Pipeline, L.L.C.

• Official creditors' committees in chapter 11 cases

• Landlords with debtor-tenants

• Trustees and court-appointed receivers in bankruptcy cases

• Creditors in cross-border insolvencies

• Defendants in complex fraudulent conveyance and preference proceedings brought in bankruptcy cases, including the Lyondell Chemical, Tribune and Madoff cases

• Lenders to companies in bankruptcy – DIP financing and exit facility financing

• Investment funds and other parties that trade in distressed securities, claims and other special situations

• Large investors in private placements of high-yield securities. Periodically, this area of practice leads us to represent those investors in situations where the issuers are unable to meet their obligations